


Keys

by aworldinside



Category: House M.D.
Genre: Gen, houserareathon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-11-30
Updated: 2005-11-30
Packaged: 2017-10-06 19:40:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/57098
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aworldinside/pseuds/aworldinside
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For the prompt:</p><p><em>At home, his empty house resounds with pain.<br/>He turns the key and stops to hear the sound.</em></p><p><em>-Maggie Huscroft</em></p>
            </blockquote>





	Keys

**Author's Note:**

> For the House Rareathon.
> 
> Has been somewhat Jossed as it was written mid Season 2.

Foreman turns the key in the lock.

He walks past the table by the door and checks the answer-phone. He finds one message from his mother ('Eric, dear we just wanted to know how you were doing. Please call us back,') and one from the telephone company replying to his call about the static on his line. ('Mr.Foreman, we've, uh, gotten to the bottom of the problem and it shouldn't happen again. We're very sorry for the inconvenience.') He'd almost hoped there would be a message from Sharon the drug-rep but she hasn't called in a couple of weeks.

As he walks away he wonders if the guy from the phone company was just having a bad day or if he'd really sounded that annoyed when he'd made the call before.

The cat greets him. It had started turning up one day and he'd never fed it but it kept turning up until one day he got used to it being there and started buying cat food. The cat (still un-named) had looked rather victorious at the time.

The cat sidles up to him, almost touching his legs but not quite. Foreman gives it a long look before getting the food out of the fridge and putting it into a rather battered bowl. The cat sniffs at it before starting to eat. A small mew of thanks but nothing more.

He thinks about grabbing a drink out of the small liquor cabinet by the stereo but doesn't. Drinking alone has never really appealed to him and the cabinet's mostly for entertaining, although he can't really remember the last time someone was around.

Foreman nearly falls asleep in front of the news (after flicking past a re-run of Xena) but manages to get himself off to bed.

\--

Wilson turns the key in the lock.

He knows Julie isn't home. Her car wasn't in the garage and there are no lights in the windows. Part of him wonders if - and perhaps hopes that- she's finally left him, but it's not really Julie's style and she'd never have left without what's waiting for him in the hallway:

The White Menace ™ Dr. Gregory House. White, fluffy and prone to biting ankles. However, despite Wilson's best efforts the dog has always liked him. Then, it has never really been the best judge of character, as it also showed a fondness for House. It was a fondness that was returned, if only because it annoyed Julie.

The Menace (actual name: Bailey, Wilson doesn't know why) follows him into the kitchen as he finds a terse note on the counter. 'James, Gone to yoga. Be back later. – Julie.'

No 'I love you.' No 'Hope you had a good day.' No, 'I hate this situation as much as you do, please ask me for a divorce.'

He's been down this road twice before and he's noticed the subtle differences: Right up to the end Jennifer's notes had been bright and cheerful and Natalie's notes? Well they had been non-existent.

The clock chimes eleven PM and it reverberates around the house and through Wilson. (Rather late time for a yoga class, really.)

After feeding the dog (with the not Julie-approved dog food) Wilson checks the answer-phone and finds a message from Julie's parents, (Hi dear, we were just wondering if you and dear James would like to stop by next weekend?' We haven't seen you both in ages and we'd love to catch up with you both. ') Wilson winces. The next is from the cable company, ('Hello Mr. Wilson, we'll be sending someone over just as soon as we can. We're sorry for the problems you've been having and will be happy to refund any charges you may have incurred.')

Wilson looks hard at the fridge before grabbing himself a beer – ignoring all the words in his head about what it means to be drinking alone – and sits down on the couch. He really should have stayed later and done patient files.

He falls asleep in front of the news (though he gave serious thought to the re-run of Xena) and wakes up at four a.m. He considers pulling himself up the stairs into his own bed but thinks better of it and grabs the blanket that hangs over the arm of the couch.

\---

House turns the key in the lock

He limps into his lounge and drops his bag onto the couch.

Scotch. Definitely Scotch. Stacy was around far too much today and was smiling and yawning just a little too much.

As he pours himself a glass, he looks at the answer phone and knows the message will be from either a) Wilson or b) a video-store attendant with a shaky voice asking him very politely if he wouldn't mind ever so much returning the DVD he borrowed two weeks ago. The newest staff member would have called, all the other ones know better by now. House almost smiles imagining it

There's a whirling sound from the side of the room as Steve McQueen gets back on his exercise wheel. House almost considers telling him to stop flaunting before realising that who would he be to tell Steve McQueen to stop running because he's jealous. He looks one last time towards the cage and gives Steve a small salute with his glass.

He limps back towards the piano and sits down. He runs his hands along the keys slowly while hearing the clock on the DVD player beep that it's eleven PM in the background. At eleven PM Stacy had always been curled up on the couch watching the news. His fingers still for a second before belting out a rendition of, 'Always Look On the Bright Side of Life.'  
He stops playing and gulps the rest of the scotch down before settling on the couch.

House falls asleep in front of a re-run of Xena (having flipped quickly past the news) but wakes every fifteen minutes or so before finally giving up and dragging himself to his room.

\--


End file.
